Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull looked nearly certain to retain power after a bruising national election as key independent lawmakers pledged support and marathon vote counting in close-run electorates leaned in his favor on Friday.
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The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has the Coalition slightly ahead with 74 seats at last count to Labor’s 71.
His announcement was not a surprise, with Katter backing the coalition in 2010 when the nation was last faced with a hung parliament, where no single political party has a majority in the 150-seat lower house.
Turnbull has said he is confident of securing a majority, though has begun talks with independent lawmakers and minor parties in case he is forced to form a minority government.
The Coalition is also counting on support from Queensland independent Bob Katter, who met Mr Turnbull yesterday to discuss the terms.
Image: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is followed by a televsion camerman as he walks to his vehicle outside his home in Sydney, Australia, July 5, 2016.
But while a majority appears to be in reach, Malcolm Turnbull has spent the week focused on locking in support from the new crossbench as he approaches the practical difficulties of governing in the new parliament at a time when internal tensions within the Coalition remain high.
“We’re hoping to have a majority in our own right”, Turnbull said on Friday in Melbourne, where he was meeting with one of the independent legislators. Six seats remain in doubt, the ABC said on its website.
He also wants the government to consider giving the auditor-general powers to monitor the effectiveness of government spending and programs – “including the billions of dollars the commonwealth provides to the states”, he said.
Counting of votes from Saturday’s election dragged on into a sixth day, with a rubber stamping of Turnbull’s government expected to be still a few days away, but the likelihood of a minority government and an obstructive Senate has already set off alarm bells.
Liberal MP Andrew Hastie said he had thrown aside the coalition talking points when a father of five asked him how the Turnbull government would benefit his family.
He said there should be a clearer picture of the results today.
Labor is unlikely to have the numbers to form a minority government.
Senior government ministers, including deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop, have conceded the government made some mistakes, and could have gone harder. But he said with the count so close, the prime minister had little authority as he predicted that Australians would be back at the polls “within the year”.
Australian Broadcasting Corp. election analysts _ considered among the most reliable _ were predicting that the coalition had 72 seats, Labor 66 and the minor parties and independents were leading in five seats.
Tensions between them continued after Mr Abbott defeated Mr Turnbull as Liberal leader in 2009 and then won the 2013 election, only to find himself ousted as leader two years later.
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“We have areas of agreement and disagreement with both sides – but we stand ready to work with whatever party forms government and the rest of the Parliament”.
